Print devices such as laser printers, copiers and the like create documents and other marked media that use large quantities of consumable supplies such as paper sheets, transparencies and toner, for example. These supplies must be replenished periodically as they are consumed by the printing or copying process. If these supplies are allowed to run out without replacement for prolonged periods, the printing devices cannot produce marked media output which uses the supplies. In order to minimize user downtime that may result from supplies running out periodically during use of the printing device, it has become the practice to keep an excess of supplies on hand at the device site for use in the printing or copying process. Although this practice is more convenient for the user operationally, it does have a number of significant disadvantages. For example, the current means of estimating consumption of the supplies by the user, which must be ascertained before any excess of supplies can be determined, is in many cases inaccurate and unreliable. Furthermore, supplies designated as excess by the supplier and allocated by the user for one machine are often used in other machines that are not part of the program. This of course results in higher operating costs to both the user and supplier.
In addition to replenishing consumable supplies such as paper sheets, toner and the like, printing devices and other similar machines frequently require periodic service including maintenance and replacement of worn parts. Various systems have been developed for indicating when a device component of a machine needs service or when the device itself is reaching the end of its useful life. However, such systems have also proven to be ineffective and unreliable. To overcome these limitations and disadvantages, various methods for detecting the need for service and/or to replenish supplies for machines such as printing devices have been devised.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,798,997 to Hayward, et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to an automatic supply ordering system for electronically ordering a consumable component or replaceable part in a marking machine. The system provides electronic identification of a condition of a replaceable component and automatically electronically sends an offer to purchase a replacement part upon identification of a threshold condition.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,692 to Haines, et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to a consumable order assistance system for a computer peripheral device that includes: a computer peripheral device, a personal computer, a user interface, and a communication link. The computer peripheral device has a consumable requiring periodic replenishment. The personal computer is signal coupled with the peripheral device. The user interface is provided on one of the computer peripheral device and the personal computer, and is operative to notify a user of a state of the consumable. The communication link signal couples the personal computer with a provider of the consumable for the peripheral device. The personal computer is operative to monitor the computer peripheral device to determine the state of the consumable, and to notify a user via the user interface of a need to replenish the consumable.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,128 to Saber et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to an electrophotographic printing or copying machine includes a functional module which can be readily removed and replaced. The module includes a monitor in the form of an electronically-readable memory, which includes information about how the particular module is to be operated. In a remanufacturing process, certain combinations of codes in the memory are noted to determine whether individual parts in the module should be replaced.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,593 to Tomidokoro, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to a consumable item supplying system that includes a plurality of image forming apparatuses each using a plurality of consumable items, for example, copysheets, toner, and so on. The consumable item supplying system includes a consumable item manual requesting operation for manually requesting a consumable item from each of the image forming apparatuses. A central controller orders a consumable item from a consumable item supplier or the like when the consumable item is requested from one of the image forming apparatuses, and a data communication device can receive data representing a consumable item request by polling each of the image forming apparatuses and sending the polling results from the image forming apparatus to the central controller.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,016,409 to Beard et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, describes status messages at which a machine will display or otherwise communicate the approach of a need to replace a module. These status messages are determined by the machine extrapolating the average daily print volume, and when a particular threshold number of days to module replacement is reached, an appropriate status message is communicated by the machine, either to an end user through a display or directly to a service provider over a network. For example, the machine can communicate a “reorder module” message at some point between 10 and 25 days (the exact day being set by user preference, or as a result of particular service plan code) before the expected end of life of the module; a “prepare to replace” message at some point between 2 and 5 days; a “replace today” message at 1-2 days; and finally a “hard stop” message when the module runs out.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,305,199 to LoBiondo, et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to a reprographic machine that includes an inventory tracking system for monitoring consumable supplies. Usage data from a plurality of networked reprographic machines is supplied to a single tracking system for monitoring inventories of supplies consumed by the network. Automatic or semi-automatic ordering can be provided via a remote interactive communication system. Order confirmation, projected shipment dates and shipment confirmations can be provided from the reorder site. The system can provide inventory monitoring customized to a local network.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,077,582 to Kravette, et al., which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, is directed to a system for monitoring a variable output paper processing device. The monitoring system includes a counter which counts the number of papers processed and provides a count signal for each counted paper. A controller receives the count signals and totals the counts. The controller transmits the total count to a central station through a modem after either a predetermined time or a predetermined count. Internal diagnostic signals in the printing device are intercepted as they are transmitted to an internal display device of the printing device and transmitted to the central computer through the modem.